Welcome to my Blog!

I'm so glad that you stopped by to check out my blog. Here you will find updates about my life as a wife, mama, worship leader, and photographer. I specialize in children and family photography as well as weddings, but I love to capture all special moments and the beauty of all creation! I am so blessed and it is my prayer to honor our Creator through all that I do!

Contact me by email: laurenvia@gmail.com!

Monday, February 22, 2010

This was a fun family to photograph. You can tell that they all have fun together. They laughed a lot and made me laugh a lot! I'm so glad I could do this session, since it seems to be hard to get their entire family together at once! Hope you enjoy!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Well, do you have any juice in your camera???Ok, I know this seems like a strange question and one that may be difficult to understand... but click the photo below to watch this video and you might understand a bit more. When you're done, simply hit the "back" button if you'd like to read the rest of this post.

Jimmy and I recently attended a worship leader's conference and were quite surprised when the first speaker was professional photographer Dewitt Jones. Part of his message included this juice story. As he spoke, I continued to be amazed. It was as if God was using Him to speak to me and only me! You see, I haven't had any juice in my camera for a while. Honestly, I'm not so sure I've had any juice in any part of my life lately. Juice, meaning passion, has been drained out of me through circumstances out of my control... but it has been my responsibility to seek a refill for my cup. Now, I'm well aware that this refill could not come from any of my own human attempts, but only by seeking the Spirit through prayer, God's word, and counsel from other believers. I, however, realize now that I have been shutting myself off from receiving a divine refill and I didn't even know it. I have not been allowing my Savior to be my protector, provider and comforter. Yesterday, while listening to all the different speakers, Psalm 46 kept creeping into my mind, along with the lyrics of Christy Nockels song "A Mighty Fortress." I was reminded that life is painful and hard but that God is so very much bigger. He has the power to protect and provide, and He also has the power to create beauty from pain and heartache. I need to put my full trust and reliance on him... in all areas of my life and to allow him to fill my cup. I know that not every day and every mundane act in my life will be overflowing with passion and beauty... but I do know that everyday should be filled with the overflow of the passion and beauty of Christ's love for me. I also know that no matter what storm I am going through, "a sacred refuge is HIS name." This knowledge alone should provoke a passionate response each and every day! It is my prayer that I will learn to live a passionate life that comes out of a grateful overflow of the love and grace lavished upon me by the Father and that I will trust in His great power for my protection, provision and refuge. I pray the same for you.... I hope you will recognize when your camera, cup, life, etc. is running low on juice and that you will seek the divine refill offered to you by the Spirit. So I ask you today, do you have juice in your camera?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I very rarely post photos of myself, especially when I'm the only one in them. I do, however, want to give you a glimpse of my new haircut. I know this may seem random, but I was just so excited to have a nice change that I thought I'd share it out here in blog-land. I hope this doesn't seem shallow or silly, but I can't tell you how nice it felt to have a moment for myself... especially after such a difficult few months. I really love my hair... and feel really refreshed! I want to give a special thanks to my very awesome, very patient, and very talented hair stylist Khanda at The Studio. If you're in the Harrisonburg area and need a great stylist, you should totally see Khanda! Ok, enough about me.... here's the photo... we'll get back to client posts soon!